Love is Death
by Islandgurl9
Summary: Pietro struggles to find the answers to his troubling questions and problems. He finds the answers in a strange girl... but there's a secret she's hiding... PLEASE R/R!!! I fixed Chapter 3 for you guys!
1. Risen

~Love is Death~  
  
Chapter 1: Risen  
  
Pietro Maximoff leaned against the hard wall of the Bayville High gymnasium. He let a small sigh escape from his lips. Not that it would have very much mattered if he had shouted his head off; he would still be alone. Always alone. Not even Evan would ever accept him. Evan was straight. Straight as a toothpick, and as unbending as a sword. Pietro could admit he was gay, but he had a hard time accepting it.  
  
So, on this cold January morning, Pietro once again tried to figure out why he was gay. Was it always in him? Or did something turn him this way? So he didn't get turned on like Lance, Todd and Fred when they watched the Victoria's Secret models, but he didn't really get turned on looking at guys either. Not even Evan. Pietro shook his head. No, the feelings he had for his rival was more like a love-hate relationship. Pietro tried to think of ever falling for a girl, but could recall nothing. But then again, he could never think of a time a girl fell for him.  
  
They all thought he was too arrogant, too immature, too skinny, too pale, too weird. Living with a bunch of sloppy misfits didn't help any. But Todd, Lance, Fred, and hell, yeah, even slutty little Tabitha who made him glad at times he didn't like girls, were his family. The only real type of family he'd had, and he would've left any Playboy model for his "family". Well, maybe not Tabitha...  
  
"All right, listen up everybody!" Pietro snapped out of his daydreams at the barking voice of his Phys. Ed. teacher. He looked at the hair coated arms and legs and gave a halfhearted smirk. He could never get turned on by him.  
  
"We've got an exchange student from Russia. Her name is Jascha Sharansky." the coach announced. Pietro looked up and felt his heart do a back flip into his stomach. Standing next to the coach was a petite, frail looking girl. She was almost all skin and bones. He took in her dark chocolate brown hair that was braided down her back. Strands of hair were loose and hung on the sides of her almost ghostly, but beautiful face. He wanted to reach out and brush them away. Just then a dark figure approached her. Evan Daniels. Pietro felt his temper flare, but he was confused. Was he mad because Evan was talking to the girl, or because the girl was talking to Evan? He almost gave out a relieved sigh. He was checking out a girl. Maybe he wasn't gay after all. Then the coach's whistle blew.  
  
"All right, let's play some basketball!" Pietro let out a small smirk. His best sport. Boys were to play first.  
  
*  
  
"Well, talk to you later Jascha." Evan said to the new girl. She gave a weak smile as he ran onto the court. She watched intently through slanted hazel eyes. A white-haired boy quickly took control of the ball and dribbled it down the court with Evan right on his trail. The pale, slim boy stopped abruptly and put up a shot. It sunk in, all net. With a smirk he turned and ran right into Evan. Suddenly the scoreboard mounted on the wall began to spark, a spike sticking out of it. Although it had all been so fast, she had seen the spike seem to grow out of Evan's arm and lodge itself into the scoreboard.  
  
Everybody moved to look at the strange spectacle, but she kept her eyes fixed on the chocolate-skinned boy who lay on the floor clutching his arm. As everybody crowded around the scoreboard she saw the fair-haired boy zip over to Evan with lightning-quick speed. He said some words but Evan cast him an evil glare and she could make out a four-lettered word beginning with 'f'.  
  
She walked over to the two boys. They both looked up at her, but she kept her eyes locked with the blues ones of the pompous, swift mutant.  
  
"People like you are jerks and deserve to burn in hell. I know you're a mutant, but so am I. I challenge you to a one-on-one at the old park outside of town." she said coldly, helping Evan to his feet. Pietro offered a lopsided, forced smile.  
  
"I... accept your challenge." he said. Jascha nodded curtly and led Evan toward the lockers.  
  
"So... you're a mutant too?" Evan asked. The girl looked at him, then back ahead before replying.  
  
"Yes." Evan paused as she helped him to sit on a bench. As she cleaned the scrap on his arm he talked again.  
  
"That was so un-Pietro like. He usually leaps instantly at a challenge."  
  
"Pietro? Is that the stuck-up snob that pushed you down?" she asked. Evan nodded.  
  
"That's him... but I've never seen him act that way..."  
  
*  
  
Pietro stood stalk still, his eyes fixed to the spot where the girl and Evan had disappeared. He felt sick in the stomach. Every word she had spoken to him had been a blow to him. It had taken him a while to recover, to accept the challenge. She hated him, but how could she? This was the first time he'd ever felt this way... She couldn't hate him, she just couldn't. He sighed. And how had she known there was a park out of town if she had just moved here??  
  
*  
  
Todd gobbled down his food using both hands and his long tongue, but Fred still beat him.  
  
"Aw man, yo, that's not fair. You practice all the time." he protested as Fred held out his hand for payment.  
  
"I still beat you so pay up." he ordered. Grumbling under breath Todd handed over five bucks.  
  
"Hey Pete, what's eating you?" Todd asked his friend who was looking more pale than usual.  
  
"Nothin'" he muttered, twirling the spaghetti noodle on his fork but not eating any.  
  
"Woah, check out the babe." Fred muttered, looking at the line of students.  
  
"Yo, she is hot!" Todd added. Pietro looked up and saw they were looking at Jascha. He felt his cheeks burn so he quickly looked down, but Todd had caught him.  
  
"Hey-" he started, but then Lance and Tabitha came up.  
  
"What's everyone looking at?" Lance asked, sliding his tray down and taking a seat. Todd glanced at the speedy mutant who kept his head down, twirling his fork.  
  
"Just a new chick..." Lance looked over and whistled.  
  
"A fine new chick." he added. A look of irritation crossed Pietro's face and he stood up abruptly.  
  
"Igottagonowseeyouaround." he sped, and left, his lunch tray containing a large ball of spaghetti wrapped around his fork.  
  
"Geez, what's his prob?" Tabitha muttered watching him race out.  
  
*  
  
"You really think you can beat me?" Pietro inquired. Jascha met his gaze dead on.  
  
"Speedy and quick doesn't always win the race." she retorted. He shrugged, but looked skeptical.  
  
"You can use your powers, but I guarantee you, you won't be able to even touch me." she vowed. He took in her fair features, shocked at the lack of color in her skin. Even with her white long-sleeved jacket and khaki pants her skin shone bright and colorless.  
  
"Go get her Pete!" Tabitha called from the side where she was sitting with Lance, Todd, and Fred. Next to them were the X-freaks; Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Kurt Wagner, and Evan Daniels.  
  
"Let the game begin." Kurt said, appearing in front of them with the ball in his hands. He threw it up into the air and disappeared. Jascha gained possession of the ball and began to dribble down the tough gravel court. Pietro sped towards her, but when he reached for the ball jolts of electricity shocked him. With a yelp he backed off and she made an easy lay-up.  
  
Pietro discovered her power the hard way: Lightning/Electricity. Just then shouting erupted from the sidelines and the ground began to shake as Lance engaged in a battle with Scott. Soon, it was an all-out war. Tabitha took out Kitty with a series of bombs Kitty couldn't walk through. But then Rogue teleported to Lance's side with the help of Kurt and drained Lance of his power. Pietro raced to Jean who was holding Fred back with her powers. He circled around her like a tornado, causing her to get dizzy and lose her psychic ability. But then Scott sent a flurry of blasts from behind his ruby sunglasses. With a cry Pietro fell to the floor in pain. Then Evan came.  
  
"This is for all the shit you put me through!" he shouted, readying a spike and aiming it at a stunned Pietro.  
  
"NO!" Jascha suddenly shouted, running in front of Pietro as the bony spike was let loose. It pierced her abdomen and came out the back.  
  
"JASCHA!" Pietro screamed, racing to the now even paler girl and catching her as she fell back. She grasped the spike between her hands but said nothing.  
  
"You fucking shit! Look what you did to her!" he bellowed at a shocked Evan. Everyone had stopped fighting and stared at the girl who was staring at the sky in shock. Pietro reached to touch her ghostly white face, but she jerked her head away from his touch.  
  
"Don't touch me!" she screeched, but not at him. She was looking past him to some invisible phantom. Pietro looked down and saw the spreading blood stain her hands.  
  
"I... I'll get her to safety." he said, looking up desperately at the others.  
  
"Your hood ain't safety." Evan snapped.  
  
"You're the one who fucking did this to her!" Pietro hollered. Evan looked away hurt. Pietro eyes roamed wildly from face to face, then he was gone with the girl in his arms.  
  
*  
  
The figure approached like a dreaded plague. There was nowhere to run, no where to hide. No use screaming because he would get more mad, and no one would hear your cry. The looming fist came and all you could do was stand and let it hit you. The shocking impact sent jolts of pain through her face, numbing it. Bruises on top of bruises. She went down, crashing to the ground. The steel-toed boot slammed into the small of her back, blood spraying from her mouth, splattering her cheeks, painting her lips. Then the beer bottle came crashing down, smashing onto her head. Glass was everywhere. The large hands came reaching for her. Grasping her small wrists and shaking her violently. Slapping her face hard.  
  
"Don't touch me!" she screamed.  
  
*  
  
Jascha jerked up in bed to see a figure reaching out for her.  
  
"Don't touch me!" she shrieked. She stretched out a hand and let forth jolts of electricity into the oncoming shadow.  
  
"Jascha!" the figure cried, flying back from the attack. She blinked twice.  
  
"Pietro?" she muttered. She quickly leaped out of the rickety cot and stopped at his side. Uneasily she touched his neck feeling for a pulse. His eyes fluttered open.  
  
"Jascha..." he whispered. Just then Lance, Todd, Fred and Tabitha walked in.  
  
"Dude, what's going on here?" Fred asked. They stopped at the sight of Jascha over Pietro.  
  
"Hey, here I was think you two were in some sort of trouble when all you two are doing is banging around, yo." Todd said.  
  
"It's NOT what you think!" Jascha shouted, scrambling away from Pietro. Fred yawned and turned to head back to his room.  
  
"Whatever you say." Todd said sarcastically.  
  
"Just keep it down you two." Lance muttered irritably.  
  
"Told you we didn't need another girl." Tabitha's voice said.  
  
"Shut up Tabby," Fred sighed. All the voices faded away and doors slammed shut.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you." Pietro apologized. Jascha turned to him with those haunting eyes that sent chills but also a warm feeling through his body. A ghost of a smile fluttered across her lips.  
  
"It's all right." she whispered. "I'm sorry for, um, shocking you. I... don't like it when people touch me." Pietro offered a warm smile.  
  
"And I guess I judged you too fast... you're not a jerk after all." Pietro almost sighed out loud. It was a relief to hear that.  
  
"That why you saved my ass back there?" she shrugged.  
  
"Guess you were just different from other guys." Pietro wrinkled his nose and crossed his thin arms, watching the girl closely, almost afraid this angel would escape from him if he looked away.  
  
"You a sexist or something?" a menace flashed in her eyes, but it wasn't directed to him.  
  
"Men are asses." she stated.  
  
"Pardon?" he asked, taken back by the answer.  
  
"Men are asses." she repeated.  
  
"Why? What makes you think this way?" he inquired.  
  
"Men are like wolves. they trick you by befriending you, then tear you apart when you least expect it."  
  
"Who did that to you?"  
  
"Everyone. My father was an alcoholic. Fucking drunk beat me whenever I was in the same building as him. Fucking chronic brother beat me whenever he didn't. Thought the only guy I could trust was my boyfriend... until he tried to rape me. I ran away. But men will always be there. Waiting to pounce on the next unsuspecting prey." Pietro stared at her in shock.  
  
"Jascha, I'm sorry..." was all he could say. She nearly spat at him.  
  
"You can't help it. Nobody could. Fuck men. Fuck life. I hate them both."  
  
"But they're not all that way."  
  
"They ALL are." she stated, then plopped on the cot and turned her back to him signaling the conversation was closed. He sighed and walked to the door.  
  
"Maybe;" he began, pausing in the doorway. "I could probe you wrong." then he left.  
  
"Don't count on it," Jascha whispered after the door closed. "Don't count on it."  
  
*  
  
Dude, pass the cereal before you eat it all yo!" Todd protested, watching Fred down the frosted flakes straight from the box.  
  
"Ugh, sugar city. Stick to nutritious foods." Tabitha said, crunching into a juicy red apple.  
  
"Yo, you sit there talking about nutritious-whatever crap, while I, oof! Mmmfh!" Todd was muffled as Fred stopped him from getting to the cereal with a hand to the face.  
  
"Fred, let him go before he gets slime all over the place." Lance ordered. Fred let Todd go and wiped the slime from his hand on his overalls. Tabitha rolled her eyes.  
  
"Total slob city." she sighed, tossing the apple core into the trash can and grabbing another.  
  
"Yo, what is up with all your cities? Sugar city, slob city, you're inventing your own little town Tab," Todd said.  
  
"Well, I know which one you're from. Loserville!" Tabitha said, sticking her tongue at him with a sneer and making an 'L' on her forehead with his thumb and pointer finger. But Todd licked her face with his long slimy tongue.  
  
"AUUGGHH!" Tabitha screeched, running to the sink and splashing water over her face trying to wipe away the slime. Todd and Fred snickered. But then Tabitha got hold of a butcher knife and chased him around. With an irritated sigh Lance shook the foundations with his power.  
  
"Cut it out!" he barked. Instantly everyone sat down, except for Pietro who had remained seated through the whole event.  
  
"So Pete, how was it?" Todd finally asked. The pale boy looked up. Bags under his sky-blue eyes showed his lack of sleep and he looked more pale than usual.  
  
"How was what?" he said at an actual normal speed.  
  
"You know, you and little miss hot chick upstairs." Tabitha said.  
  
A flush of color stained his alabaster cheeks, but it was caused by anger, not embarrassment.  
  
"Nothinghappenedallright,justdropit." he snapped. Everybody blinked, slowly deciphering his fast speech.  
  
"Yeah, right. Hot gal plus a guy, in a bedroom, and nothing happened. "Don't tell me you went so fast in the bed you don't remember!" Lance teased. Todd smirked.  
  
"We even caught her on top of you, yo." Todd added. Pietro's eyebrows began to narrow dangerously.  
  
"Fuck, off." he hissed. Just then the light bulb flickered, then blacked out.  
  
"Aw, shit." Fred whined. "I'm afraid of the dark okay?" he mumbled. Then, the light came back on.  
  
"Woah, what just happened?" Todd muttered. Then they saw Jascha in the doorway sending volts of electricity into the light bulb.  
  
"Thank you!" Fred cried. "I am eternally in your debt." he cried, offering the cereal box. Jascha looked at him uneasily.  
  
"Hey, yo! That's my cereal!" Todd said, snatching the box away with his tongue.  
  
"Jascha, what are you doing up? You're supposed to be resting." Pietro said. An almost smirk crossed her pale features.  
  
"I'll survive." with that she picked up her bag and walked out the door.  
  
*  
  
Jascha shuffled the books around in her locker when a hand came and touched her. She spun around quickly, fist surrounded with electricity, and came face to face with the dark skinned, blond haired face of Evan. She quickly relaxed.  
  
"Hey, um, glad to see you back. Look, I'm sorry about what happened." she offered a small smile.  
  
"It's all right, I know you didn't mean to." There was an awkward silence.  
  
"Are you, part of the Brotherhood?" Evan asked, unable to meet her eyes, afraid of the answer. He could feel her eyes on him, searching for his motive.  
  
"No." she finally answered. He felt his heart lighten considerably.  
  
"Then... why not join the X-Men?" he asked hopefully, chancing a glance into her captivating eyes. He saw a look of hurt, a deep sorrow filled her eyes. It looked almost as if she were hurting physically.  
  
"I... I can't." she whispered. Evan scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.  
  
"Why no?" she knit her brows in frustration as if she wanted to make him understand, but couldn't.  
  
"Maybe if I had met you earlier... things would be different." Evan felt like screaming in confusion.  
  
"You... you're talking about the past, look to the future!" Genuine sorrow clouded her eyes and a sad smile graced her thin face.  
  
"You don't understand Evan, today is my future. So was yesterday."  
  
"What? What do you mean Jascha?"  
  
"Evan, let's go, the Prof needs us to-" Scott Summers stopped short at the sight of Jascha. With him was Jean, Kurt and Kitty.  
  
"See you later Evan." Jascha said, and disappeared.  
  
"Like, nice to meet you too." Kitty said sarcastically, staring after the girl.  
  
"You can't exactly blame her." Scott said.  
  
"How can you say that? She completely ignored us!" Kurt protested.  
  
"Well, the only time we've seen her is when we attacked her friends." Jean concluded. Kitty made a face.  
  
"Friends? Is that what she considers those jerks?" she asked. Kurt tut-tutted at her, wagging a finger in her face.  
  
"Ah-ah... as I recall, there's a certain Lance Alvers..."  
  
"Hey, like, leave Lance out of this okay?" Kurt grinned in satisfaction at Kitty's reaction.  
  
"She did save Pietro..." Scott reminded, then regretted it, seeing Evan stiffen and a spike begin to protrude from his arm.  
  
"Yeah, well it doesn't change the fact that she's living with him and those other jerks." Evan snapped and stalked off.  
  
*  
  
"Well, I like her." Fred said, taking a large bite of a cheeseburger.  
  
"Hot chick in the house? No complaints from me, yo." Todd added.  
  
"She saved my life. I owe her mine. Why are you so uptight then Lance?" Pietro asked, irritated at the superior boy's attitude.  
  
"She's not Brotherhood." was all he would say.  
  
"Well, I don't like her." Tabitha said. Fred rolled his eyes.  
  
"That's just 'cause she's another girl." he muttered.  
  
"Hey, she's a mutant, not one of the X-freaks and she lives with us! What more do you need to accept her!?" Pietro demanded.  
  
"She's only here because you took her here." Tabitha snapped.  
  
"As I recall, you were one of the X-freaks, and you came here on Lance's non-serious proposal!" Pietro retorted.  
  
"Just because she's not one of them, doesn't mean she's one of us." Lance said. Pietro began to fume and clenched and unclenched his fists.  
  
"WellmaybeifshewereoneoftheX-freaksyou'dlikeherlikeyourlittleditsyX- bimboKitty." Pietro snapped. Lance turned on him, but could say nothing but,  
  
"Don't call her that." Just then Jascha walked in with two boxes of steaming pizza and plopped them on the counter.  
  
"Got some spare change, decided to get some grub. Pepperoni okay?" she said. Fred and Todd dived for the boxes.  
  
"I definitely like her!" Todd said with cheese hanging out of his mouth. Even Tabitha took a slice saying,  
  
"Oil city here I come." Lance sighed and picked up a hot slice as well. Guess she is one of us... he thought, looking at her with the others.  
  
*  
  
"I'm telling you, she'd be, like, great if she were one of us!" Kitty said, walking into the mansion with the others.  
  
"Naw, ah just think she's too attached to them." Rogue disagreed.  
  
"Or, to Pietro at least. Why else would she save him?" Kurt asked. Evan quickened his pace.  
  
"Let's stop talking about her." Evan said, through clenched teeth.  
  
"Well, I was just saying-" the teens continued to bicker as Professor Xavier watched them from the top of the balcony. He turned to Logan in his wheelchair.  
  
"Who are they talking about?" he asked. Logan let out a low growl.  
  
"Some new mutant who's hanging with the Brotherhood." he replied. The Professor raised a dark eyebrow at the use of the other mutant's lingo.  
  
"Funny, I haven't picked up her reading, mentally, or with Cerebro."  
  
"How is that possible Charles?" Logan asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, gather the others into the computer room." he ordered.  
  
Soon, all of the main X-Men were in the computer room, crowded around Professor X and the main control panel.  
  
"I've gathered you here because there is something unusual, about your, new acquaintance." he said, choosing his words carefully.  
  
"Now, what is her name, power and origin?" he questioned.  
  
"Her name is Jascha Sharansky, her power is lightning or electricity and she just moved here from Russia to Bayville." Evan recited before any of the others could. He ignored stares from his colleagues and focused on the computer screen as Professor X entered the information. One match was found. He clicked on the link and a picture of the ghostly girl came up.  
  
"That's her!" everyone shouted. It was Professor X's turn to turn white.  
  
"That's impossible..." he said.  
  
"What? Why?" Evan demanded.  
  
Silence fell over the room, and everybody looked beneath the picture of the girl.  
  
Jascha Nadya Sharansky  
  
August 9, 1986 - January 9, 2001  
  
Everybody's hearts were pounding. Today was Wednesday, January 9, 2002.  
  
~End of Chapter 1~  
  
Note: Do you like it? Please send me your reviews. If you like it I'll continue it. Thank you for reading! 


	2. Hard to let Go

~Love is Death~  
  
Chapter 2: Hard to let Go  
  
"That's impossible." Lance stated, voicing Evan's thoughts. Evan stood apart from his friends as they tried to convince the Brotherhood that their friend, roommate, sister, was dead. But Evan couldn't convince them, because he wasn't convinced himself. So now he stood on the side, shivering in the cold as the snow drifted in the run down neighborhood.  
  
"We don't have time to take this type of shit from you X-freaks." Tabitha snapped, turning with the others to go inside.  
  
"Wait," Jean called. Fred gave an exasperated sigh and turned back around, blocking the other's entrance into the dilapidated house.  
  
"Fuck. Fred! Move!" Lance demanded, trying to move the large boy. But he crossed his arms and stood unmoving. Lance was about to use his powers to knock him over when Jean cried out.  
  
"I've got evidence!" All the Brotherhood members turned to her. In her hand she held the girl's records. Lance refused to look at them, but Todd, Fred and Tabitha were intrigued by it.  
  
"Lance, yo, this looks real!" Todd said, fear hinted in his voice.  
  
"Says here, she died a year ago. Just like they said." Fred added. With a growl of frustration Lance marched forward, grabbed the paper and ripped it into tiny pieces.  
  
"Can't you see!? It's all some computer shit! They're lying." he said. But Jean didn't give up.  
  
"Lance! Look up past newspaper articles! It's true!" Lance cast her a glare.  
  
"Get off our property." he menaced. Reluctantly they left. Except for Evan.  
  
"What's the matter spike-boy? Can't you hear!?" Lance shouted. But Evan stood his ground.  
  
"I want to go with you to the library. To search for those articles. I don't believe this either, so we'll find out together." Lance stared at him, but Evan didn't budge. With a sigh Lance nodded.  
  
*  
  
Girl found brutally murdered, family devastated.... Evan's stomach twisted into knots as he read the article.  
  
'Jonathan Bailey was going for his routine jog when he stumbled upon a barely recognizable body. After tests were conducted, the body was identified as a young immigrant from Russia named Jascha Nadya Sharansky.  
  
Her father and brother who just moved to Bayville with Jascha a week ago were devastated. Jascha had run away the night before and returned dead. She was so badly beaten, there was no bone not cracked.  
  
Witnesses recalled the scene as a bloody puddle. Jascha's body parts were not all found. Her eyes were missing, the blood had been drained from her body, her arms were found-" Evan shoved the paper aside, unable to read anymore. He felt like puking. But there was so much still missing.  
  
"Man found dead, death mysterious." Lance read aloud. Evan looked up from his thoughts.  
  
"What's so unusual about that?" he asked. Lance held up a finger for patience and began to read.  
  
"43-year-old Peter Sharansky was found dead in his bathtub." Todd's eyes widened.  
  
"That's, or, uh, was, Jascha's father yo!" he exclaimed.  
  
"His death was very mysterious," Lance continued. "Tests show that had died of an electrical shock in the water, but there were no electrical appliances found near the bathtub and the closest electrical outlet was six feet away." Evan felt his heart skip a beat. Jascha's powers were electricity. Tabitha held up her own article.  
  
"22-year-old Ivan Sharansky was struck by lightning and killed in last night's storm. The strange thing was it was only a light rainstorm and no other lightning was recorded..." There was a chilling silence as Tabitha's voice trailed off.  
  
"Jascha's brother..." Fred finally whispered.  
  
*  
  
Pietro sat uneasily next to the girl on the park bench. He had finally worked up the nerve to ask her to a picnic in the park after a movie. He had been ever so tempted to hold her hand in the darkened theater, but he had not wanted to push his luck. It had been a hell of a miracle when she had actually said 'yes', especially after her emotional 'men are asses' speech.  
  
A light breeze passed by, unhooking her bangs from behind her ears, and letting them stream across her face. Her eyes were closed, enjoying the peace as he took in her beauty. Suddenly, it dawned on him. That nagging feeling in the back of his mind, the yearning pulling at his heart had been identified. He suddenly realized, he truly, deeply, sincerely loved her...  
  
She opened her eyes and blushed under his gaze. He moved in slightly, not too much to put her on guard, but closer. When she still did not flinch he reached out and brushed the brown bangs from her face as he had been longing to do since he set eyes on her, tracing her face with the tips of his fingers, feeling the smooth skin beneath his fingers.  
  
"Jascha, can I... kiss you?" he asked. She gazed deep into his pools of blue before nodding. He leaned in and their lips met. He ran his long slender fingers through her hair and let the moment last. Finally, they pulled apart. But he didn't want to let her go. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, resting her head on his chest, letting their hearts beat in unison. He gently kissed the top of her head.  
  
"I love you..." he whispered, squeezing her tightly. But the feeling of liquid on his sweater caused him to look at the girl he loved. Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. He reached out to wipe them away, but she shied from his touch.  
  
"Jascha, what's wrong?" he asked. She looked up at him with those wet, hazel orbs which were now filled with tortured emotional pain. He wanted to hold her, to protect her from whatever was hurting her, but he knew she wouldn't allow him to.  
  
"I.... can't love you..." she finally whispered through her tears. Pietro felt as if someone had just driven a nail through his heart. He gazed at her baffled.  
  
"Wh, why? I... love you Jascha!" he exclaimed, desperately. More tears sprung into her eyes.  
  
"That's just it Pietro... you can't. I can't." she wailed.  
  
"What? I don't understand!" he cried.  
  
"Please, don't make it harder... just let me die in peace." she pleaded and ran away, leaving Pietro stunned and heartbroken.  
  
*  
  
"He's coming!" Todd announced from the window. He turned to his friends who were gathered around the kitchen table. The weary, stressed looks on their faces expressed their emotions. They had spent the whole afternoon at the library researching Jascha's death. Her killer had never been found, and within six months after her death, both her father and brother had been killed mysteriously. Each death linked to electric shock.  
  
Under different circumstances they might have laughed about how they had actually done research in an actual library. But things were different now. The sound of the door opening and closing sounded. But instead of the usual blur of color, heavy footsteps could be heard from the hallway before the milk-white haired head of the usual speedy mutant appeared. His eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, his face long and sorrowful.  
  
"Where's Jascha?" Lance asked, pausing at the name. Pietro looked up slowly.  
  
"She left." he said. There was an unbearable silence. Todd looked anxiously from face to face, wanting one of them to tell the poor boy the truth, but they all kept their eyes down and averted from him. I mean, how do you tell a guy the girl you love is acutally.... dead?  
  
Todd sucked in a deep breath, then began.  
  
"Pietro; there's something we need to tell you..."  
  
*  
  
"Jascha! Wait!" Scott called. The girl stopped and turned to him. Red circles outlined her eyes and stained her nose. The only color he had seen in her pale face. He stopped short of her, Jean, Kitty, Kurt and Rogue behind him.  
  
"Jascha, what's wrong?" he asked. she nearly smirked at him.  
  
"I know you know." she whispered. Scott was stunned. He hadn't expected her to know.  
  
"Then let us help you." Jean said. Jascha narrowed her swollen eyes at the red-headed mutant.  
  
"Miss Perfect Jean Grey stooping to my level. Isn't that news?" Jascha snapped. Jean was taken aback at her hostility.  
  
"Please, let us help you." Scott said. The younger girl turned on him.  
  
"Help me!? Help me from what!? You can't help me! I don't want your fucking help! I'm dead! Remember!?" she screamed. There was silence as she spun around and set off.  
  
"Who did it? Who killed you Jascha?" Jean called. Jascha turned around with an almost insane smirk on her face.  
  
"Wouldn't you like to know? You may be psychic, but you can't read a dead person's mind, can you?" With that she left.  
  
"Just a thought, but like, how can she be dead; yet alive?" Kitty asked. Rogue shivered in fear.  
  
"It's so hard to believe, yet there she was. Like a phantom." she whispered, a chilling hand gripping her heart and traveling up her spine.  
  
"Back for revenge?" Kurt suggested.  
  
"Or maybe she just wants to live a life..." Scott said, turning in the opposite direction of where the girl had gone.  
  
*  
  
Jascha stomped through the snow laden sidewalk, feeling her depression grow. she felt weak and tired. As she always had, but now she had a splitting headache and her hands burned and ached. She looked down at her hands and saw they were engulfed in electricity. She sighed and sat down on the steps to someone's front door. This only happened when she was extremely depressed.  
  
She grasped her aching wrists with her hand, feeling the electricity surge through her body. She ripped off her gloves and dug her nails into the sides of her wrist to try lessen the flow of electricity with the physical feeling of pain. But it didn't seem to be working. His face was still planted firmly in her mind, his words still echoing through her head.  
  
She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth shoving her nails in as deep as she could, feeling the blood rise up her fingernails. Slowly, the electricity began to weaken and Jascha loosened her grip, feeling the pain burn in her hands. But suddenly, a voice called out.  
  
"Jascha!" she opened her eyes and saw Lance standing in front of her. His face was flushed from running, his breath appearing in vapor clouds.  
  
"Jascha, you need to come back, Pietro needs you-" he stopped and looked down at her bloody fingers.  
  
"What are you doing!?" he exclaimed, grabbing her wrist to stop her. She jerked her arms away from him.  
  
"No! You don't understand! I have to do this or else my powers will go haywire!" He stopped, but continued to look at her. Finally he took a seat next to her.  
  
"I... told Pietro." Lance whispered. The girls' knuckles turned white as her fingers dug deeper and the blood trickled down her arm.  
  
"Jascha, stop!" Lance pleaded, grabbing her arm. But she paid no heed to him, her eyes closed in frustration. Lance stiffened as the jolts of electricity passed through his body when he touched her, and fell back.  
  
"Why couldn't you just leave me alone!? Why can't anyone leave me alone!? Just stay out of my fucking life! Just let me DIE!" she bellowed, falling to her knees as he powers engulfed her. Then she looked to the still figure lying in the snow next to her.  
  
"Lance? Lance!" she exclaimed, scrambling to his side. His eyes were rolled upward, and the color was slowly draining from his face. She reached out and touched his neck. It was still warm, but there was no pulse. She jerked back in the snow as if shocked by electricity.  
  
"I... I killed him." she whispered, her heart pounding. Then she narrowed her eyes and brought her knees to her chest, wrapping her bloody arms around her legs.  
  
"Why couldn't I be normal? Why couldn't my father not have killed me? Why couldn't they leave me alone? Why couldn't I not have met Pietro!?" she wailed, rocking in her misery, hugging her legs to her chest, unaware of the ball of electricity building up around her and in her. She continued to mutter her miseries until the power of her depression and mutant powers overcame her and began to shock her.  
  
"WHHHYYY!?!?!?!?" she screamed to the sky in frustration and pain, before falling to the snow. The lights in a ten-mile radius flickered as the voltage charged through the wires, then blacked out, leaving the town in the dark.  
  
*  
  
Pietro grasped the collar of his sweater, as if it would save his life. He just couldn't accept it, yet there was the articles on the table in front of him as if slapping his face and telling him to accept the inevitable.  
  
"Hey, yo! Check out the news!" Todd called. They all gathered into the living room where there was a news flash. The attractive blond female anchor reported the news.  
  
"The west side of Bayville was pitched into darkness after an unexpected power surge. The source is yet unknown." Pietro let go of his sweater.  
  
"Jascha..." in a flash Pietro was out the door.  
  
*  
  
Pietro sped through the town, searching for the girl he loved. He sped into a run down part of the town and stopped short at the sight of two bodies partially covered by the falling snow.  
  
"JASCHA!" he cried running to the fallen figures.  
  
"Oh my God..." he whispered. He dropped to the snow and held the pale girl in his arms. A tear was frozen on her cheek, but she was not breathing. He clutched her to his chest, perhaps hoping his embrace would bring her to back to life; again. But she remained unmoving.  
  
He kissed her frozen lips and laid her back onto the snow and let the tears flow from his eyes as he knelt before the dead bodies of his brother and lover.  
  
*  
  
End of Chapter 2...  
  
Note: Sorry for the dreary ending, go to the 3rd chapter for the finale! 


	3. Goodbye

~Love is Death~  
  
Chapter 3: Goodbye  
  
Snow laced the cold gray slate of stone. Tabitha placed a bouquet of tulips into the snow in front of the new tombstone. Behind her stood Fred, Todd, and the X-Men. She dusted the frosted ice from the face of the tombstone, her fingers tracing the letters.  
  
Lance "Avalanche" Alvers  
  
1986-2002  
  
Flowers, little trinkets and memories lay at the feet of the grave. Kitty burst into tears and ran away with Kurt by her side. Tabitha stood and turned to the distant white-haired boy crouched at the base of another grave.  
  
"Should we get him?" Fred asked. Tabitha wiped a tear from her face.  
  
"No, leave him." she advised. They began to walk through the aisles on end of markers, each representing one less mouth to feed, one more empty seat, one more broken heart....  
  
*  
  
Evan stood behind his long-term rival in the falling snow. For once he almost felt sorry for the usual arrogant punk; almost. He closed his eyes in grief, remembering the time he saw her body lifeless. He hadn't been able to stop himself from crying no matter how hard he tried. The tears just flooded down his cheeks. They had not stopped until now, before her grave.  
  
A hand touched his shoulder and he turned to see Rogue next to him. Jean and Scott were further off. she offered him a sympathetic smile.  
  
"Let's go Evan..." she whispered kindly. He took one last look at the tombstone and the boy knelt before it, then left the both of them behind.  
  
*  
  
Pietro placed a single rose on the snow dusted tombstone. The blood-red petals seemed to sink into the snow. His pale finger had been cut by the sharp thorns. He pressed his bloody finger to the freezing surface of the stone, leaving a blood outlined fingerprint on the gravestone.  
  
"I wish you didn't have to leave... but life's not like that is it? Always leaving you longing, wishing, dreaming of the things that you'll never get." he whispered.  
  
"But I could only wish for one thing. I'd beg the gods, sacrifice myself, anything! Just to hold you in my arms one more time, to look into your eyes and tell you I love you.... that's all I would ask." he said, tears cascading down his face.  
  
"But I guess, I'll settle for this last goodbye." he leaned forward and kissed the tombstone.  
  
"Goodbye Jascha. I love you..." he whispered. "I always will."  
  
He stood, then left his one true love. As he departed the land of the dead the date of her death changed mysteriously. 2001 to 2002.  
  
~Epilogue~  
  
January 9, 2012  
  
Lindsey Wagner, the daughter of Kurt and Kitty Wagner ran down the dirty roads with her best friend Dave.  
  
"Catch me if you can!" he shouted, running up the steps of a run-down house. Lindsey chased him through the abandoned house. Suddenly, Dave fell into a hole in the weak floorboards.  
  
"Dave!" Lindsey cried, helping her friend up. He clutched his ankle in pain.  
  
"I think I twisted it." he moaned.  
  
"No wonder! You stepped on this!" she said, bringing out a box. She brushed off the layer of dust and cobwebs and read the top.  
  
This box belongs to Jascha Nadya Sharansky  
  
They opened it. Inside were four wrinkled, yellowed newspaper clippings. The first read: Man found dead, Death Mysterious. The next two: Man struck by lightning in a minor storm and Young Russian boy found shocked to death in an alley. And the final article's faded headline read: Girl found brutally murdered, family devastated. Clipped to the last article was a paper with a crawled message.  
  
Now I may rest in peace...  
  
*  
  
THE END  
  
Dedicated to all the victims of abuse, my friends and family. Love you all.  
  
Note: To all of those who read the third chapter and found out that it was the same as the second chapter here are my sincere, humble apologies! It was a computer error. I hope this final chapter has met your expectations, I uploaded it as soon as I could. Please Review! 


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